The West Sneeze, We Catch a Cold

I usually don’t bother myself much with what the US or UK does, except if it directly affects Nigeria (although I must say that most of the things they do indirectly affect us here). When the vote was underway in Britain, I was quite surprised I didn’t see a lot of mentions about it by Nigerians in Nigeria, unlike what it’d have been if it was the US voting for something
(you need to see the way we monitor the Hillary vs Donald campaign); the way we obsess over the US makes me wonder if it was Britain or the US that colonized Nigeria in the past.

courtesy:catholicherald.co.uk

When the results came in favour of those that voted to leave the EU, Nigerians in the UK seemed upset about it. More disturbing was that the higher percentage of the age group that voted for Britain to leave the EU were conservative older people, who wanted to sort-of ‘take back their land’ as Donald Trump put it, meaning that they might not really get to live with the repercussions of their actions. Already there are screams that the older people from the hinterlands have mortgaged away the future of the young ones. This leads to my question: why didn’t the young ones come out to vote for Britain to remain in the EU? I guess it’s not only in Nigeria that the youths shy away from taking a stand on an issue via voting, but are the first to criticise and judge.

Also, few hours after the vote, one of the campaign promises that the money being sent to the EU would be channelled to NHS was tagged ‘a mistake’. The people were like: already?? The dust’s clearing from their eyes already?? So it’s not only in naija that they deny campaign promises???

Anyway, to how it concerns us; now I’m not a financial guru so I can’t really explain how badly this will affect Africa’s markets, but economists say it’s already affecting South Africa and will negatively affect Nigeria’s bilateral trade with Britain. Looking at the lives of ordinary Nigerians, especially those in the UK, most of whom were against the exit (as to be expected); I’ve a friend there whom EU immigration law had helped to stay back in Britain, after almost getting deported according to British Immigration law. For someone like that, this exit is painful and very personal, because who knows what’ll happen tomorrow. There’s also the concern with the monster called ‘racism’ which we cannot ignore; some of our people there feel they’ll be asked to go (though I don’t see how that’ll be an issue except you’re there as an undocumented immigrant). Some people are also of the opinion that citizens from Commonwealth Nations (Nigeria inclusive) will resume enjoying the benefits they were erstwhile enjoying before citizens from EU countries became top priority, like jobs, scholarships, etc. Like I said, different views and opinions.

Courtesy: bbc.com

However, with the unrest currently going on in Britain and civil demonstrations here and there, it has become uncertain what will happen. The EU are demanding that Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty which summarily says that any member is free to withdraw from the EU in accordance with its own constitution, however, the withdrawing member will notify the EU of its intention to withdraw, and all negotiations on who gets what must be concluded within two years, and if there must be an extension of time, the remaining members of the EU must each agree to the extension. Hmmmm… it gets dicier, as we know any mistake in the negotiation will lead to a myriad of problems from Britain, and I hope the people that started the ‘leave’ campaign are up to the task.

In other news, the Pounds Sterling has dropped, Euro too (incase you haven't heard) . So, my people might want to stock up on it. Business men and women, oya, time to visit bureau de change, while this crisis lasts. Let’s keep watching and see how it goes.

Have a fruitful week y’all.

Hugs….